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January 31, 2007
My Notes from Davos
I am just returning from the World Economic Forum in Davos. I want to give you my observations on the week, in the hopes that I can add to what you have read in the media. A caveat is important; even a guy with my energy cannot hope to cover anything more than a small part of the intellectual content that is available at the WEF. It's a bit like an all you can eat buffet at the world's fanciest restaurant.
Environment was the most important topic this year. Of course, I was struck by the paucity of snow at the Alpine resort and the cab driver's comment that it was the first time he had ever seen rain in early January. Sir Nicholas Stern, who authored a seminal white paper for the UK Government, warned that with carbon dioxide at 450 parts per million, there is a 50/50 chance of a 2 degree centigrade rise in temperature, at 500 PPM a 3 degree rise in temperature, either of which will cause major flooding of most coastal areas. He said that the world must reduce present CO2 output by 30% to stop the process of global warming, which means that the Western nations will have to cut even more to accommodate growth in Asia. There was a major debate about the best incentive structure. Professor Dan Esty of Yale University contended that voluntary programs are unworkable, given that emissions are up 15% since 1990. He recommends that governments agree to cap the amount of carbon, thereby providing the incentive to cap and trade. Stern suggested an alternative approach, a stiff carbon tax to establish a floor price on carbon so that investors can seek alternatives with confidence. There was also an intense discussion about future energy sources, with Jim Rogers of Duke Energy insisting on nuclear and clean coal, while venture capitalist Vinod Khosla advocated wind, solar and hydrogen. Khosla noted that nuclear facilities take 10 years to build (and are unsafe to boot), adding that "coal is like fast food in America." Rogers' retort was a classic, "We need silver buckshot, not a silver bullet, reliable supply at affordable prices." Tony Blair, UK Prime Minister, echoed Rogers' view, recommending that his country move to nuclear as its natural gas supplies from the North Sea dwindle in the next decade.
The second key topic was the rise of Web 2.0 and the resulting revolution for media companies. I was in the one day session for the Media and Entertainment Governors, with top executives from News Corp., Nike, MTV, Bloomberg, Dow Jones, Forbes, Google, Yahoo, the National Basketball Assn., BBDO, WPP, Ogilvy, Holtzbrinck, Reuters, TIVO and SlingMedia. Michael Wolf of MTV contended that the rise of new media is not inconsistent with the continued viability of mainstream media, citing as evidence the top 1000 purchases on i-Tunes who are all artists owned by major studios or the Saturday Night Live segment "Lazy Sunday" that got 10 million views on YouTube (another great one is the autistic high school basketball player in Rochester, NY, who got into a game for the first time and hit six consecutive three point shots). There is downward pressure on production costs; Shellie Lazarus of Ogilvy said the Dove "Evolution" video, which got five million views on YouTube, cost $50,000 to make (done for a workshop in Canada) but added that it was done by two of her top (and expensive) creative directors. Companies are invading each other's turfs, with WPP buying the rights to Sacha Cohen's (remember BORAT) next film about a gay Austrian Nazi, Bruno or ICM, the talent agents, going to TIVO to establish a virtual channel for client Clint Eastwood (movies he directs or is an actor). Bill Roedy of MTV said that he has two models; one is for stars such as Jon Stewart of the Daily Show on Comedy Central, where you have to "pay up" and may become a loss leader, versus MTV standard video jockeys who have a short shelf life and are not expensive. Tad Smith of Cahners, a large trade media publisher, and Steve Forbes, of Forbes Magazine and Forbes.com, said they were both going outside "of the walled garden, to include content from wire services, blogs and competitors, moving a concept of aggregating around key vertical industries such as financial services.
A very important conclusion; it will be harder to charge for content, so there will be more reliance on advertising as a revenue source (even true for TV over the web, with ad supported to triumph over pay per download). Just as important was the comment by Charlie Denson of Nike, who said we are not trying to sell in our marketing on the Web, we are providing a consumer experience, making a relationship, giving the consumer a change to customize and to interpret, repurpose and share. Eric Schmitt of Google suggested that personal digital agents may begin to replace traditional aggregators, helping people find what they want in a more dispersed world of media. "There will be communications systems that compute systems of influence, to go beyond systems of record, with the growth opportunity to build computing into communications."
The third key theme for Davos 07 was the paradox of political dysfunction and booming global economy. Stephen Roach, chief economist of Morgan Stanley, said that the past four years of economic growth has been the most rapid since the early 1970s. He noted that the global economy had absorbed rising energy costs, terrorism and the structural imbalance (huge US trade deficit and Asian accumulation of dollars) in its stride. Larry Summers, former president of Harvard and former US Treasury Secretary, attributed the prosperity to global trade, suggesting that this is the first time there is large volume of trade between nations with large disparities in income. He even posited that we must reconsider international trade theory, beyond the traditional exchange of goods and services, to add a "trade in tasks" where stages of work are done in different places, with the integration of China and India into the capitalist system as the most important development since the Industrial Revolution.
There was an ominous forecast, however, from two former Democratic economic sages, Summers and Laura Tyson, of the University of California, who see the possibility of protectionism in the US with the 2008 Presidential primaries, reinforcing similar tendencies in Europe. The anxiety of the middle class is caused by the rapidity of change and the sense that they are being hit by forces they cannot control, according to former US Trade Representative Bob Zoellick. He added that the benefits of free trade are long term while the pain of adjustment is in the short run. David Gergen, former Presidential press secretary, suggested that voters will rally to equality of opportunity, a collective approach to economic success, a more inclusive prosperity." None of the economists was very sanguine about the prospects for the Doha Trade Round, in part because the Congressional bill granting authority to President Bush to negotiate such a deal expires this summer. Neville Isdell, CEO of Coca-Cola, said that Western society "may be looking inward, so those of us in business must give strong encouragement to politicians...to tell the story of how people around the world are brought out of poverty through free trade...It is time for business to step up and help to get this done." The most specific immediate risk is that the US Congress, with a Democratic majority, may push for legislation putting tariffs on Chinese imports unless the trade deficit is reduced (China accounts for 29% of total US trade deficit).
The fourth theme of Davos was the shifting power equation. Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, suggested that we are back to a period like the 1920s, with economic prosperity and no single global hegemon. "The war in Iraq has delegitimized war in East Asia; note that China and Japan are working out their issues," he said. Angela Merkel, prime minister of Germany, had a wonderful line on the need for cooperation among governments, saying "If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together." She added a quote from Ben Franklin, "He who gives up freedom to win security will lose both." There was a different narrative from Senator John McCain and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. McCain, whom I saw both at a lunch on Friday and a cocktail party on Saturday, was outspoken in his support for the increase in US troop commitment in Iraq. "We have pursued a failed policy and strategy but the new clear and hold approach, establishing a viable political process in the country is the right way to go. If we lose the war in Iraq, Al Queda will be coming to our shores again." Blair vindicated his Iraq war decision on the basis of the experience in Kosovo; "The definition of the international community is shared common values that give us the right and duty to intervene. The answer to fear is hoe and belief but belief only comes from word turned into deeds."
The fifth theme was the continued shift of economic power to China and India. China remains a much more attractive place for foreign direct investment, particularly in manufacturing. The recent crackdown on corruption in Shanghai, with the party chairman jailed and a few Western companies cited for kickbacks, was a major topic of discussion. Bill Amelio, CEO of Lenovo, a PC manufacturer based in China gave a clear statement of intent to compete in the US consumer segment based on low cost manufacturing and design process from Asia, indicative of the ambition of the new multinational tigers. Sunil Mittal, CEO of Bharti Telecom, the third most valuable company in India (and one of six in the Fortune 500 from India), said that the 1 million people working in IT in India bring in $22 billion of revenue. Both countries face immense challenges in environment, education, equality of opportunity for those in urban and rural settings, building viable internal capital markets and governance. An important change in governmental approach in India was noted by Steve Schwarzman of Blackstone, who said that public private partnerships are now possible to build ports, roads and railroads, helping infrastructure investment to rise from present 4.7% of GNP to a target of 8%. When you consider that China is growing at 10% and India at 8% a year, that the savings rate for Chinese is 50% and India is 30%, the projection is that both will be in top five economies of the world within five to ten years.
To get a broader picture of the global economy for 2007, I attended sessions on Brazil, Japan and Europe. President Lula was very proud of the achievements of his first term, with five million jobs created. He has focused on agriculture, in particular small farmers, who can now use the $1 billion micro credit facility, to finance production. He claims to have settled 380,000 families on newly nationalized land. The country now exports without causing inflation or damaging the domestic economy. Lula has established a family stipend program for those earning under $60 per month, but in return they must put their children into school and have them vaccinated. He suggested that rich countries stop making donations to the Third World, preferring investment in development projects for water to stimulate agriculture. Mr. Katashiro, former finance minister to Prime Minister Koizumi, said that the recently completed Administration had destroyed the road and postal bank lobbies, clearing the way for his successor, Mr. Abe, to lower controls on capital inflows and to stimulate the supply side by investing in IT for the non-IT sector. Japan is the leader in energy efficiency, especially in the auto sector, but lacks a real entrepreneurial sector, which he attributes to an educational system that is not linked to creative thinking. The European panel was cautiously optimistic on economic prospects, noting the European productivity is now equal to the US, having closed the gap since the early 90s. Walter Kielholz, chairman of Credit Suisse, urged European governments to use the present positive economic conditions to make further reforms, lowering corporate and personal taxes, freeing the labor market. Christine Lagarde, trade minister of France, said that Europe lags behind Asia and America in the innovation and information society, lacking the enterprise environment and network industries, with too many state owned companies. "We must be doing something right in France," she added, "as we are #3 in attracting foreign direct investment behind the US and UK.", concluding that the 50th anniversary of the European Union in 2007 would be a good time to commit to further actions to enhance competitiveness, especially in France, Germany and Italy which account for 70% of the EU's GNP.
The sixth important topic was the state of global health. I attended two sessions, one on pandemics and the other on stem cell research. Peter Piot, director of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, was somewhat optimistic for the first time, noting that disease prevalence had dropped in the US, Europe and the Caribbean. This buoyancy was offset by his declaration that the disease has now become more female than male, moving "from a gay, white, Western, middle class disease to a poor, African or Asian, female disease." He noted that we must put prevention back on the agenda, because there are 4.5 million new infections each year, overwhelming any effort at disease management through treatment. The picture is improved on treatment, with 2 million people in the developing world on a drug regimen, up from 150,000 a few years ago. The fastest growth of the epidemic is now in the former Soviet Republics and in Asia. Meanwhile, if you want to be frightened, consider the remarks by Richard Feacham, who runs the Global Alliance on Tuberculosis and Malaria. He said that viral pandemics will be the huge issue for the 21st century, with 50% of the MSRAs (Methicillin Resistant Staph infection) now resistant to antibiotics. Dr. Ferguson from the Imperial College in London talked about the new danger of Zoonoses, animal pathogens that can spread to humans from overly close contact (farmers in China living adjacent to poultry). He cited Ebola, Nipah Virus, SARS and monkeypox as examples of Zoonoses. Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control, said that the world's health organizations are much better coordinated on detection and acknowledgement of the problems, with the Chinese particularly good at rapid quarantine of patients to avoid spread. Hank McKinnell of Pfizer said that there is a serious pandemic every 100 years, most recently the
1918 Influenza outbreak. On stem cells the focus of researchers is on Type I Diabetes and Neurodegeneration, genetic or blood diseases where stem cells can help to rebuild the immune system or to boost the immune system to prevent disease. There has been an important and little known change in the source of stem cells, from embryo to adult stem cells.
As always, it is an exhilarating, exhausting, humbling experience to go to Davos. My world view is inevitably challenged by exposure to the best and brightest, each determined to express his or her opinion in the swirl of plenary sessions, cocktail parties and late night debates at the bar. It is my favorite four days of the year. Here is a final thought that made me proud of what our firm does. In the stem cell session, the scientists made a major point of the need to engage in the public debate. A professor from MIT said, "We have to understand the public's concerns and respond to them. We need a public dialogue, to listen to the people. We must show how stem cells can cut health care costs. We must also recognize that we cannot be too close to government because it is not trusted. We must educate the people and engage in the debate." Hope this is of use and I am glad to respond to any of your questions.
Posted by Edelman at 9:17 AM
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| TrackBackJanuary 25, 2007
What's Me2 Been Up To?
It has been nearly a year since we established the Me2Revolution practice and I wanted to share details of just some of the work that we've done to date.
We have organized partnerships with MySpace for World AIDS Day in the UK with a virtual red ribbon campaign that drew over 20,000 participants, and for Trojan on a Sexy Smart community with over 15,000 friends for women-to-women conversations.
We have encouraged clients to start blogging; and a dozen GE executives catalogued their thoughts at BloggingNext.com from the NextFest seminar on technology's future. We have been undertaking community engagement for Xbox 360 and Zune. We also helped develop a treasure hunt game (Colony) that encouraged collaboration, with 110,000 players during a two month program.
We produced a video for bloggers about the new Infiniti G35 to ensure that passionate fans could see the new design at the same time it was unveiled at the NY Auto show. More than 15,000 people streamed it in the first week.
We created a participatory on-line community for Avent, called Sisterhood Six, where six new moms, 3 of whom are professionals (an OBGYN, a Doula and an author), share information with the 17,000 unique visitors who have come to site to date.
These are just a representative handful of our efforts to bring public relations practice into the new world in ways that are helpful to our clients and welcomed by the web. We're proud of the work and our clients who are committed to participating in conversations and doing some things that are new and unexpected.
Posted by Edelman at 5:23 PM
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| TrackBackTalking Trust with Loic Le Meur
I bumped into Loic Le Meur, who interviewed me about the findings from our latest edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer. Here's the video...
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Davos07, Davos
Posted by Edelman at 2:46 PM
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| TrackBackJanuary 19, 2007
A Snapshot of the Marketing Business
Edelman and Boston Consulting Group co-sponsored a dinner on Wednesday to explore media convergence and new ways to communicate with the consumer. Attendees included important marketers (AstraZeneca, Pfizer, GE, Citigroup, Delta Airlines, Dannon), communications firms (Y&R, BBDO, Razorfish) and media companies (AOL, Yahoo, Dow Jones, VH1, Conde Nast, Walt Disney). Here are a few of the key findings from the event:
1) Ideas are paramount. Too much time is spent on where to communicate, not enough on what to talk about. Ideas can be gathered by listening to stakeholders and consumers online.
2) The new sweet spot for video content is a 3-4 minute segment, between long form (movie) and short form (30 second spot). This is the average length of segments on YouTube.
3) The web has scalability issues for major marketers. TV is still perceived as necessary to reach a mass audience for brand building, while the web is fine for a small advertiser focused on product choice/sales. TV is also seen as offering predictable sales results, key to a food business with a need to forecast production precisely. Of course there was a loud dissent from Wenda Harris Millard of Yahoo who described TV ads as “spray and pray.”
4) There is further proof of Linda Stone’s adage, "The World of Continuous Partial Attention". Thirty eight percent of those watching the Oscars on TV were also on-line. People may be watching TV but are watching TV differently.
5) Advertising may achieve its full effect sooner than expected, but will have less widespread effectiveness than in the past. In the beer business, after three ads, men don’t pay attention. There may be better use of incremental funds, for instance, sponsoring a sport’s database.
6) Marketing for brands has a current and a future impact. New media is energizing brands for current business results. Marketers need to have a presence on-line because you can build passion for brands and can build community which engenders brand loyalty.
7) According to Citigroup, the best return on advertising is in the Wall Street Journal on-line and drive time radio.
Where does this leave the PR business? In a good place, one could argue. We are now able to compete for funds never before available. We can offer big ideas in which PR can be the runway into other disciplines (note GE Eco-Imagination began with relationship between the company and an NGO, then press and blogger relations, and only afterwards advertising and promotion). We must be experimenting with short form video that presents a compelling narrative, beyond the printed word into visuals. We should diversify our media plans; why not include CollegeHumor.com and other edgy options. In a world of dispersion of authority, we can offer a central source of reliable information from the client, providing education and place for discussion by those seeking community
I am off to the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday night. I will be posting during the week by offering 2-3 minute podcasts on my most interesting observations of the day. I will write a more thorough report at the end of the conference. In the mean time, look for the release of the Edelman Trust Barometer 2007 on Monday.
Posted by Edelman at 10:58 AM
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Hi Richard,
I was curious to know if any distinction was made between transactional web marketing activity like Google text ads and brand orientated web marketing activity (blogs, banner ads, content sponsorship, microsites etc) in terms of return on investment and whether this had put 'brand' spend under pressure at all?
Posted by: Ged at January 23, 2007 8:13 PM
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| TrackBackJanuary 12, 2007
Setting Expectations
There has been significant chatter in the past few weeks about why I have not talked personally about the Microsoft Vista blogger outreach effort. I want to set expectations so that you understand when I (or one of my colleagues, for instance) will blog about client programs.
I know and appreciate that Edelman is properly being held to the highest standard on transparency. Of course you have a right- and I truly welcome you-to critique our work in the blogosphere, to suggest ways in which we should improve. Be assured that I have noted our shortcomings in my blog when appropriate, giving clear direction on how we will do better while asking all of you to hold us to this standard. First & foremost though, I have a responsibility to my employees and to my clients, so sometimes there are things I'm just not going to blog about.
So, in the interest of being transparent about transparency, here is my approach to blogging about client programs:
- I expect to post about programs that are interesting and break new ground in order to spread knowledge and best practice. Neither I nor other Edelman employees will post about programs when clients request that we stay clear.
- If there are questions posed about a given program, particularly about our approach, we will do our best to ensure that those most closely involved with the effort are commenting. It is a far better option to have those truly informed about our work join the conversation as and when appropriate. This is what happened on Microsoft with both Rick Murray, head of Me2Revolution, and Pete Pedersen, our relationship manager on the client, commenting in PRWeek.
- If our firm has made a mistake, I will blog about it, in the spirit of continuous improvement and commitment to excellence.
We are trying to embody the evolution of public relations by adding real value to the conversation. We are doing some things that are new and unexpected. We hold ourselves to the highest standards of ethical behavior and openness. We are not afraid of taking criticism even when we have been above board and transparent. We recognize the need for continuing education of our team but we all take the view that we must be entrepreneurial and creative, skiing each hill with confidence (if it ever snows in the Northeast!!).
Richard
Posted by Edelman at 2:55 PM
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Chatter? There has been a roar!
When a PR agency is offering to deliver the blogisphere to client’s - bloggers must defend our own integrity.
I am troubled by the selection of bloggers who have an irrational distain for Microsoft and believe your agency will ask these bloggers for help on future campaigns.
Posted by: paul at January 12, 2007 7:06 PM
It sounds like that is a sound policy to have in place, Mr. Edelman. And one I'm sure most companies would be smart to adopt; at least one similar to it.
However, in the world of consumer-generated content and supposedly encouraging corporations to interact with customers via social media, there is an expectation of a more free-flowing "conversation."
That's just a fallacy when a lot of PR is about trying to *control* the message, or at least attempting to steer it.
True social media does run counter to traditional PR. And, that is why there have been and is the potential for so many problems.
It's all just growing pains as a more forthright PR profession evolves.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Driehorst at January 13, 2007 10:42 PM
Brave! This is the cost of being the first. I hope your view are right; for the future and the right evolution of Communication and PR.
Benito Castro. Seville, Spain
Posted by: benito castro at January 15, 2007 5:04 PM
Richard, could you clarify your first point for me:
"Neither I nor other Edelman employees will post about programs when clients request that we stay clear."
Does that mean that your clients ultimately have the say-so on and determine your stakeholder relations/response?
Does this caveat imply that Edelman (the person & the co.) will engage with the blogosphere on your clients' terms, rather than on the blogosphere's terms which are, principally, all about openness and transparency?
Posted by: Gerry McCusker at January 15, 2007 10:41 PM
This is the second time I comment on the same subject but I truly feel that the issue of transparency and openness is taking on a whole new dimension, scaring most of the Corporate World from the rewards to be reaped from Social Media. Edelman is once again in the limelight, for all the wrong reasons.
How can we disregard the investment made (not just financial) and the courage of Agencies like Edelman? Part in fault is the Agency and I’m pleased to see you Richard putting your foot down a little sturdier than before. It’s about time we stop questioning the wisdom of respecting our client’s option for the Agency to not respond or comment further on an issue. Edelman has after all a responsibility to its employees, their families, their partners, their suppliers and of course their clients. There should be no doubt as to that priority sometimes overriding that of the blogosphere. Much better to internally help the client understand and in the future ensure he get’s it 80% right.
Transparency and openness is NOT 100% transparency. If that was the case a large soda company would have a pretty hard time selling its “product” and explaining its added value to the consumer. Every time Edelman or any other company is bashed for its attempts to understand Social Media, we lose another potential client who doesn’t want to “box” let alone in this type of arena.
On a final note, we should have all learnt one lesson in our younger days: oh the power of hindsight. – how easy it is to criticise a campaign such as Vista/Edelman. It is in fact apparently harder to predict how some (in no way all) bloggers will wake up in the morning and whether they will contribute to the blogosphere in a positive way (not to be confused with positive for the brands in this case).
Disclaimer: I use Windows & Office XP and I don’t care much for Microsoft – but I do wake up in the morning and thank them for making my life that much easier (even with daily resets). I don’t know any one in Edelman but I feel sorry for Richard. Bashing Pioneers is always so sad to see, even if they don’t get it right all the time.
Posted by: Nuno Lopes at January 26, 2007 11:04 AM
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| TrackBackJanuary 5, 2007
Blogs Matter and We Have Data to Prove It
Edelman will release next week the fourth in its series of research reports on the blogosphere. The new report is based on research done by our own Strategy One unit and a different study done in partnership with Technorati. We will have data on the blogosphere in 10 nations, including Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Poland, the UK and the US. Here is what we have learned:
• Blogs are the new on-ramp for mainstream media. We find that leading political blogs are increasingly quoted in stories in mainstream media. The same is true of technology blogs, where stories such as the Google acquisition of YouTube broke first on Techcrunch.
• Blog readership levels vary significantly by market, but influencers are more likely to read blogs. Influencers are those who actively attempt to impact the public discourse (this survey group is different from our Trust Barometer population of opinion leaders who make over $75,000 and are media attentive). Blog readers are willing to spread the word, both good and bad.
• Blogs do spur readers to take action. For example, 78% of German readers of blogs have attended a public meeting on a local issue covered in a blog.
• The composition of the “short head” of the blogosphere in most markets is technology blogs, followed by politics, personal journals or entertainment.
• Multinational companies such as McDonalds, Microsoft or Samsung (disclosure—last two are Edelman clients) draw more attention from local bloggers than major companies headquartered in a market (VW in Germany)
• The survey respondents in the Asian countries surveyed, China, Japan and South Korea, all read blogs with significantly more frequency than their counterparts in the US or Europe.
We look forward to your reaction to the survey material next week
Technorati Tags:
Blogosphere, Blogs, Blogging, Media
Posted by Edelman at 4:21 PM
Comments
Richard:
I remain curious as to your take on the laptop giveaway your company undertook. My post in your previous entry was, apparently, not approved for public eyes. I sincerely hope that is not because of its inquisitive nature and was merely an oversight.
Kindly share your thoughts on how the laptop giveaway fits or does not fit into your corporate ethics policies.
Best,
Steve Safran
Managing Editor
Lost Remote
Posted by: Steve Safran at January 6, 2007 12:44 AM
Going on the principles you spoke of and the title "blogs matter" I am proud to say that I recently changed my site from being HTML based to being totally, 100% blog-based. I converted my site to a Wordpress blog and made a few changes to the look and feel; I added a customized header and a menu bar. My traffic has increased exponentially and I'm excited about tracking my 2007 stats and comparing them to 2006.
Posted by: Erin Blaskie at January 6, 2007 5:51 AM
What is the reason that the Netherlands is not on the list of participating countries for this research?
Posted by: Marco Derksen at January 7, 2007 3:44 PM
We did these countries as first round
NL is in our Trust Barometer this year
Wait about 2 weeks for those results
Posted by: Richard Edelman at January 8, 2007 11:38 AM
I remain curious as to your take on the laptop giveaway your company undertook. My post in your previous entry was, apparently, not approved for public eyes. I sincerely hope that is not because of its inquisitive nature and was merely an oversight.
Posted by: Rob Muller at January 8, 2007 6:55 PM
I think the laptop giveaway was a great idea. It is the ethical responsibility of those who received the laptops to disclose the nature in which it was given to them. Sites like engadget receive free things all the time. It is the duty of the reporter (blogger) to report on the product without bias. At least Edleman didn't create a flog promoting the product like Sony's wonderful marketing campaign led by Zipatoni.
Posted by: Monique Low at January 8, 2007 7:45 PM
I am a new fan! The journey that my mind takes as you write of your adventures and public relations intellect are simply wonderful. I look forward to learning more as you write.
Posted by: Carla Sue Rickard at January 10, 2007 3:54 PM
Monique:
Were you involved in the Edelman laptop giveaway? Are you an Edelman employee? Curious because your name is not an active link. I agree that those who received the laptops were responsible for disclosure but an expensive laptop - we're talking an Acer Ferrari - is obviously meant to prejudice a review. Perhaps a reconsideration of the policy is in order. Editors at Car & Driver aren't given a Mercedes when they need to review it.
Has Edelman issued a policy on this?
Posted by: Mark Rose at January 11, 2007 2:51 PM
74% of all Japanese people read blogs? This really sounds incredible, especially if you compare it to other active Asian countries like Korea and China. Do you have any explanation for this? If I read the Japan section of the report, I only get features that make one expect the opposite: Japanese are shy, do not post replies and seldom take action after reading a blog. Probably, they are fanatic mobloggers...
Posted by: Jeroen Mirck at January 11, 2007 6:46 PM